Saturday, December 14, 2002

Squelching Dissent or Whatever

The 'Win Without War' media blitz, otherwise known as The Night of 100 Righteously Dissenting and Rapidly Descending Stars, seems to have passed us by without too much damage done to the foundations of our government and culture. In fact, it didn’t survive even one 24 hour news cycle. A dismal opening weekend such as this is enough to sink the prospects of any mainstream movie and to seriously damage the careers and future employment opportunities of the stars involved. But I guess that’s nothing new for the star of such blockbusters as “Wet Hot American Summer” and “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.” In fact, Janeane Garofolo just might consider this latest venture a relative smashing success, as she did get some prime time coverage on CNN and Fox News.

HARRIS: You know, that's the first thing somebody's going to think when they see the names that are on this letter that's going around right now and they see and hear you on television, they're just going to say, you know what, here's another case of these liberals out in Hollywood, all these famous actors and musicians with a lot of time and money on their hands.

GAROFALO: Well, first of all, liberal, if you look at the definition in the "American Heritage Dictionary," liberal is not a bad thing to be. So somehow why that's a dirty word I don't know, but that's really irrelevant.

And also, there's other names on this list besides actors. As I said, there's people from the military and diplomatic community and people from other walks of life on this list. And just because somebody's in the entertainment industry doesn't make their point of view less valid as pertains to, you know, war or what have you or various other political views.

HARRIS: So then, what do you say to those who say that may be the case, but doesn't this say something about your level of patriotism? Does this say that you aren't patriotic Americans...

GAROFALO:Well, why would this be unpatriotic? Patriotism is the love of country. Right? You want to see Americans safe. You want your country protected. You feel that a preemptive strike makes your country less secure, not more secure. It's also patriotic to embrace democracy, which means speaking out if you feel something is being done in your name that is morally wrong.

So I would say that accusing people of being unpatriotic or anti- American is a bully's way of trying to undermine people's opinions or squelch dissent or whatever, however you want to label it. It's just not a very intelligent thing to say. And so -- but I also feel like, again, just because somebody's an actor doesn't make them an unimportant person. And you know, the actors are just a small part of people. It's just irrelevant what people do for a living as pertains to this. I'm sorry, did I...

GAROFALO: Thank you. But also, you got -- you know, people just tend to book actors and actresses -- I really wish I wasn't here being the sort of inarticulate spokesperson, believe me, but it seems like the easiest way to get the word out is you know I've made a handful of mediocre movies, but I'm here, right? You know, I would rather that someone like Scott Ritter or Howard Zinn or Lawrence Korb or, you know, was here. I wish they were. I wish you'd book -- you know, I wish you'd book Noam Chomsky. [emphasis added].

Noam Chomsy!? My “Baran-Wallerstein Revision of the Immiserization Thesis” early alert warning system just went off (yours too?). As Lee Harris explained in his article “The Intellectual Origins of America-Bashing”, (linked to in a posting on Fraters this past Thursday) Noam Chomsky is one of the leading proponents of this theory. A theory which is nothing more than Marxism, wearing the latest radical chic clothing, so useful idiots like Janeane Garofalo can appreciate it.

But perhaps I’m being too harsh on Ms. Garofalo. Maybe she’s not a useful idiot at all. Maybe she knows exactly what she’s advocating and is only tempering her words under the guise of patriotism and dissent so they will be more palatable for the unwashed masses. So which is it Janeane? Are you a useful idiot or are you a radical Marxist seeking to overthrow the economic and political structure of this country? Come on, answer up, it should be a simple question for someone as intelligent and important as you profess to be.

Since I do not have the power to subpoena her on this matter (yet!) I don’t expect a reply. Which is further evidence that we may need to revive the Congressional Committee on un-American Activities. No, not to intimidate her in any way. We simply need answers. And the names, personal habits, and political beliefs of all her known associates. Relax, these are just preventative measures to ensure future acts of violence are not done to the American people. Like the cast of Mystery Men reuniting for a sequel.